Early dementia twice as common as thought

Thursday 30th, Oct 2014 |

More than twice as many people in the UK have dementia before the age of 65 than was previously thought, new figures show. A report due to be published this week says that 42,000 people are now estimated to be suffering early onset dementia, including thousands of cases among those in their 40s, and more than 700 cases among those in their 30s.The new statistics also show the condition is slightly more common among men than women.

Experts said doctors too often missed symptoms of dementia in younger people, assuming they were too young to be suffering from the condition. They said services and society needed to do more to help those coming to terms with a diagnosis of dementia. The figures, due to be published on Wednesday, come from a state of the nation report by the Alzheimer’s Society, the London School of Economics and King's College Institute of Psychiatry, which will show the cost of dementia to the NHS and social services.